L4D2: Memories
by 3Parkour
Summary: Experience the widespread infection through Ellis's eyes. Maybe to everyone else he is always happy, but it isn't possible to overlook every bad situation in life.
1. Introduction

**Left 4 Dead 2:**

**Memories**

**Introduction Chapter**

***Disclaimer* **

**I do not own the game Left 4 Dead 2 or any characters mentioned in this story, sadly, they belong to Valve. **

**However, I do own this story and will murder your family if you try and steal it. (is this really worth stealing anyway?)**

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Ellis ran a hand through sweaty curls and closed his eyes in exhaustion. He had worked non-stop at his mechanic shop and was ready for bed. Everyone of his guys had called in sick, and Ellis being the sweet guy he is, let them take a week long vacation. He didn't know if it was a prank, but Ellis did know that they all owed him big. Curling up in the chair he was sitting in Ellis quickly fell asleep.

Something banging at the apartment door caused Ellis to wake up. He didn't know who or why anyone would be knocking on the door at ten o' clock in the morning, but he opened it anyway. A man jumped on top of Ellis and bit at his face. The hick held the attacker by the shoulders and tried pushing him back. Growing weaker, Ellis punched the man atop of him once, twice, again and again until the man fell off of him. Ellis ran to his bedroom and slammed the door shut behind him.

Leaning against the door as the stranger pounded on it, Ellis frantically searched his room for a weapon. The hick jumped for the baseball bat in the corner of his bedroom and scrambled behind his bed. Clutching the bat tightly in his hands, Ellis waited for the attacker to break through the door.

When the man eventually did, Ellis took his advantage and jumped up, swinging and hitting the attacker right in the head. He fell to the ground with a thud and hit him again, and again. With every hit, blood splattered on Ellis. Ellis didn't stop until he was covered in blood from head to toe and the head of the attacker was no longer recognizable.

The hick sat on the edge of his bed and placed his head in his hands. He didn't know how he would tell his family he was a murderer, and the guilt twisted Ellis's stomach in a knot.

Ellis stood up and walked into the bathroom. Ellis turned on the sink and looked at himself in the mirror, frowning at the purplish-black bags that had formed under his eyes. Before leaving Ellis splashed water on his face and grabbed his hat off the ground in his living room.

Stepping outside, Ellis's eyes widened. The town he had lived in was chaos. People were running around and cars were crashed. Building were set on fire and the smoke had turned the sky black. Shaking his head in disbelief, Ellis ran towards the motel his friend was staying in.

Running up to the motel's entrance, Ellis was stopped by someone in a hazmat suit.

"Sir, you can't enter it's being quarantined."

Ellis pushed the hand away. "My frien' is in there. It'll only take a sec I prom-"

"Everyone in there is dead."

"N-No, can't be! My buddy Keith, he can survive anythin'. Jus' lemme in!"

The hick pushed the man in the hazmat suit away and ran into the building. He quickly checked the computer behind the desk for Keith's name and found his room. Ellis took the stairs up to the sixth floor, stopping at room eighteen. The door was wide open, and Ellis peeked in. A lifeless body lay on the floor. His red trucker hat on the ground next to him. He had overalls and on his shirt a tag that read, 'Hello, my name is Keith'.

Ellis ran over to the body. "K-Keith, wake up, Keith! Please... please wake up... Keith..."

Tears rolled down Ellis's cheek. He lied down on the ground next to Keith and curled up, falling asleep next to him.

It was a while before Ellis awoke, and the only reason he didn't just close his eyes and go back to sleep was because he heard talking.

"We just need to get to the roof, they got helicopters up there!" A loud voice said.

Ellis stood up and blinked the blurriness away from his eyes, heading over to where he heard the voices.

"I see somebody over there." A man in a suit mumbled, pointing at Ellis.

"It might be one of those things." A small women cocked her head at Ellis in suspicion.

"No way," The loud voice Ellis had hear earlier now spoke. "Don't look like one to me."

"Cause I ain't." Ellis spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I ain't one of those things." He repeated.

"Then where'd all the blood come from?" The man in the suit asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I-I don't want to talk about it..." The hick mumbled, staring at the ground.

The women walked over to Ellis and put her hand on his shoulder. "That's alright, sweetie. We all got stories to tell, but it don't mean we gotta share them." She smiled at him and Ellis nodded, smiling back.

"What exactly is going on?" Ellis asked once the group had started walking again.

"Don't know. Don't care." The man in the suit replied.

The women rolled her eyes. "Some kinda virus that turns you crazy. It makes you wanna eat flash and act violent. I was reporting a story on it and those were what I read in the lines." She answered.

Ellis nodded and the group continued to walk in silence until they reached the ninth floor.

"It's them," the women whispered, referring to the infected, flesh-eating monsters.

There was a group of them, up to ten, just standing there in the hallway that separated them from the roof.

"We're screwed." The man in the suit mumbled, frowning.

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**hey guys, sorry for the short chapter! this is only short because it's the introduction. the others will be precisely 4,000-5,000 words per chapter. usually i would take nick's p.o.v but lately i've fallen in love with the adorkable hick and decided to write more about him. so what did you think? please review and give me tips on how to get better and writing, tell me if your confused or if something didn't make sense, or just tell me it was good or bad! :3**


	2. Chapter 1

**Left 4 Dead 2:**

**Memories**

**Chapter 1**

"Hey, now," The bigger man started speaking. "we can't give up now. I think I gotta plan. We can just sneak our way on the ledges of the rooms."

The group nodded their heads in agreement and the women moved up to the first room, turning the door knob slowly. Everyone quickly tip-toed into the room and she shut the door behind them. Ellis was the one to break the glass of the window, and first one out on the ledge.

"Oh lord..." He whispered, peering over the ledge and the one-hundred foot fall down.

Ellis slowly made his way across the ledge, shaking. He was surprised to see how easily the rest of his friends were walking across it and wondered if he seemed like a baby to the other three.

Interrupting his thoughts, Ellis lost balance and fell back. Ellis realized he must had been leaning to hard on the window behind him.

"Are you alright?" The women kneeled beside Ellis and helped him sit up.

"I-I think."

As soon as the hick tried to stand up, he fell back down to the ground and held his leg. The older man now kneeled next to the women and Ellis, rolling up the southerners overalls on the left side. Ellis flinched and squirmed as the jeans rubbed against his cuts.

"So he can't walk, don't expect me to carry him."

The women shook her head in disgust and put Ellis's arm around her shoulder, supporting his leg as he limped back onto the ledge. The group eventually reached the window of the janitor's supply closet and slipped through the already-broken window. Setting down Ellis in a chair the women sat down to take a break.

"Hey, suit, why don't you help?" She growled, glaring at the white suit across the room.

"I'd do anything for you sweetheart, but not involving the kid."

"I would help you." Ellis said, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.

The man in the suit rolled his eyes and cracked open the door of the closet, gesturing that they shoulder get moving. The bigger man smiled and the women stood up to help Ellis again.

"I'll always be there for you, sweetie." She whispered and Ellis cracked a smile.

Suit slammed his shoulder against the door that lead to the roof, falling to the ground as it quickly opened. Three of the group stood chuckling and the man in the suit scowled at them. The bigger man quickly pointed to helicopters that had barely lifted off the ground.

Everyone in the group waved their arms in the air and yelled for the helicopters to come back, but to no use.

"At least we got supplies." The hick pointed to a nearby table. Atop of it was health-kits, pistols, axes and crowbars.

"They could have stayed for another five goddamn minutes!" The man in the suit ran a hand through his hair before starting to pace back and forth.

"Calm down boy! We ain't got time for complainin'." The older man spoke calmly, but with anger in his voice.

Ellis ignored the other men turned to the women beside him. "So, uh, what's yer name."

"Rochelle, what about you?"

"Folks call me Ellis. I run an auto shop with a couple of my buddies. We're also in a band. I play bass."

Rochelle giggled. "You sure are something, Ellis."

The hick smiled in reply. 'Maybe this won't be so bad...' Ellis thought.

"So what now?"

Ellis and Rochelle turned to the man in the suit who was now calm, but still seemed annoyed.

"We need to get outta here." The older man started. "But we need a plan first."

"Those helicopters were heading in the direction of a mall, maybe they're having survivors evacuate there." Rochelle said.

"It's worth a chance, right?" Ellis asked, part of him still nervous and confused about what was going on.

Everyone looked at each other first, making sure they all realized what they would have to go through to get to the mall, and then shook their heads in agreement.

"My friends call me Coach. Guess y'all can do the same." The older man said.

Ellis looked over at the man in the white suit. The hick knew he seemed bad on the outside but decided he was only annoyed because he was just as confused, scared and nervous as the rest of the three.

"Name's Nick. But don't bother learning it 'cause I ain't sticking around much longer."

Coach shook his head and Rochelle rolled her eyes. Ellis knew he was lying, only trying to seem tough.

"At least stay 'till we get to that mall." The hick smiled at Nick, and the con-man shrugged in reply.

"Alright."

"Let's, uh, get our supplies and head out." Rochelle said, picking up an ax.

Ellis nodded, picking up a crowbar to inspect it. He wasn't so sure how to... kill ... correctly with a tool.

"It's better to take a weapon and not need one than not havin' one when ya need it." The hick thought aloud, causing Rochelle and Coach to chuckle.

"I like how you think, Ellis." Coach said as he pat Ellis on the back.

"Are we gonna go or not?" Nick interrupted. He scowled at Ellis and he only smiled back.

"Ready when you are, Nicky."

Nick rolled his eyes and started down the stairs. The rest of the group following behind. Ellis clutched his crowbar tight, nervousness replaced with courage. The hick decided his quest was to avenge Keith and survive the end of the world, to get back to whoever was left of humanity and live life on like the apocalypse had never happened. He wanted to prove that no matter what the world threw at him he could get back onto his feet every time.

Coach pushed the group out of his way, wanting to protect them, and peeked around the corner.

"We can take em'!" Ellis whispered cheerfully.

Nick ran out the door and shot three zombies heading his way. Ellis swung his crowbar at an infected that jumped out at Nick's side. When the zombie fell to the ground Ellis stomped on its head until the skull was smashed in.

Nick smiled at the hick. "It's clear. Thanks for the help." He stopped smiling at Ellis and scowled at the rest of the group. "Let's go, kid."

Ellis and Nick scouted ahead, killing anything that got in their way as Rochelle and Coach watched their backs. Ellis thought using a crowbar was the easiest thing he had ever done and now all confusion was replaced with amusement.

"Who knew the apocalypse could be this fun?" The hick shouted as he swung his crowbar into another skull.

Coach shot a few infected in the head before replying, "This is only the easy part, young'un."

"Uh, what's that?" Rochelle pointed to an infected up ahead.

The infected was overweight and was slowly walking towards the group.

"Shoot it!" Ellis yelled at Coach.

As Coach shot it, the infected burst causing the group to fall atop one another. Green goo splattered after the burst and all over the survivors.

"What the hell!" Rochelle yelled, scrunching her nose up in disgust.

"My suit..." Nick mumbled.

Ellis stood up and wiped his face clean, the rest of the survivors doing the same. The hick regretted telling Coach to shoot the infected, but knew someone would have done it eventually.

A loud screech interrupted the hick's thoughts. "That don't sound happy." Ellis said, looking around for whatever made that noise.

"Look out!" Nick yelled as an infected jumped on top of Rochelle.

Ellis pushed it off of the women and pulled her away. Nick shot the attacker in the head and crawled over to Rochelle.

"It barely scratched me, but damn, that thing had some claws on it."

Nick and Ellis helped Rochelle stand up and she frowned at the claw marks that had ribbed through the bottom of her shirt.

"It's alright I can stitch that up when we get the time." Coach smiled at Rochelle.

"I think there is an elevator up there. We should check it out." Nick said, jogging towards the elevator.

The con-man slammed his fist on the elevator. "Dammit."

"What's wrong?" Ellis asked.

"Broken. We need to find another one."

"Let's keep moving. There should be another staircase up ahead."

The group followed Coach down the hallway to the staircase but stopped when fire erupted from a room and blocked their path.

"Looks like we're going back to the window ledges." Rochelle mumbled, opening the door to another room.

Ellis was made sure to go first once the group was on the ledges, just to be safe. Nick busted the window so the four could step into the room.

"What's this?" Rochelle squinted suspiciously at the bottle of green goo she held in her hand.

Ellis looked over her shoulder and pointed at the writing under a bio-hazard sign. "Says somethin' 'bout excretion. What the hell is that?"

"Excretion is like getting rid of wastes, I think." Coach shrugged.

"Looks like the stuff that the fat guys puked on us. Maybe scientists were studying it, probably could help us." Nick took the bottle from Rochelle's hands and shoved it in his pocket.

The rest of the group gave Nick a weird look. "Hey, I hate germs and vomit as much as the rest of you but it could be useful."

Ellis kicked open the door and the group headed out. The survivors closed the door behind them as they headed down the stairs.

"The next elevator better work or god knows what I'll do..." Nick mumbled.

Ellis kicked an infected in the leg and stomped on its head. Rochelle pushed a zombie through a window as Nick and Coach shot at the few that heard them. A fire, once again, blocked the hallway path and the group had to climb over a halfway barricaded door as an alternative route. Nick was the last one to climb over and had his leg over the barricade when he was pulled back.

"Goddamn, help me!"

Rochelle turned around and jumped through the small space available, killing whatever held Nick back.

"What happened?" Rochelle asked as she helped Nick up.

He coughed and shrugged. "I-It had a really long tongue and was choking me with it. Let's get out of here."

They both coughed until they were away from the area and on the other side of the fire.

"Glad you're alright. There's an elevator over there we can use." Coach patted Nick on the back and walked him to the elevator.

Ellis pressed the button for the ground floor when all of the survivors got in the elevator. Everyone decided to sit and take a break and relax, or at least catch a breath. The hick groaned when the elevator had reached its destination and he had to get back up. He knew his muscles ached and wondered if everyone felt the same.

Nick and Coach pried the door open and instantly smoke flooded the survivor's lungs. Squinting his eyes, Ellis made his way out of the elevator behind everyone else.

"Guns!" Rochelle yelled, pointing at the weapons on the floor.

Ellis picked the weapon up and inspected it. He had only used a shotgun and rifle before, the hick wasn't sure how to use anything else. He threw it down back onto the ground and decided to let the experienced use them.

Loud yells came from the other side of the building and Coach held up his sub-machine gun. "I knew it was too quiet upstairs!"

Ellis covered his ears as three guns fired into the group of infected that ran towards them. He only swung at what he saw come close to him and his friends.

"All clear." The hick yelled to the rest of the group.

With Coach as the leader everyone followed him into the first available room.

Ellis smiled as he spotted a shotgun rack and picked one up.

"Let's try the other room." Coach suggested.

In the next room, a kitchen, the group jumped over a counter and made there way out the other end.

The hick ran out the door, his shotgun kicking back every time he shot and killed an infected.

"I see some kind of.. safe-room!" Rochelle yelled, pointing to a red metal door.

"Then let's go!" Ellis ran ahead, swinging his ax without care.

Nick pulled the bile jar out of his pocket and threw it. The bottle burst and a cloud of green smoke surrounded the area. The con-man noticed a horde heading his way and ran to the safe-room, but realized they were going after the location of the bile bomb instead of chasing after him. He shot at a few and scrambled into the room.

As soon as Nick was in the room Ellis slammed the door shut behind them.

"W-We made it." Rochelle let out a sigh of relief and sat slumped down onto the ground.

Ellis sat on a table leaned against the wall. It seemed as if every time he tried to relax the pain from his sprained ankle and aching muscles came back. The hick pulled his hat off, but sighed when blood from his fingers left prints on his hat. Another thing he hadn't realized until now was how unkempt everyone looked. Blood splattered, clothes ripped and bags under all their eyes. Ellis couldn't wait for the moment when they reached the mall. Evacuation sounded like a great idea after all the pain and suffering they had gone through. Not to mention the growling stomach's of all four survivors.

"Someone needs to take watch while the rest of us are asleep..." Nick mumbled.

"Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, someone has to." Coach agreed.

The hick didn't know what happened but he found himself taking first watch as the sun set in the sky. Nick was the only one awake and he stared at Ellis from across the room.

"You okay?" The con-man asked Ellis, raising an eyebrow.

"Everything's great." Ellis lied.

"Really? The world ended, we're the only survivors, and you're still putting on a fake smile and acting like everything's okay. Something's up."

Ellis scowled at Nick. "At least I'm not bringin' everybody down. I'm tryin' to make sure everyone is happy and that this group sticks together."

"Oh, okay. Sure. Tell me when you're ready to tell the truth and I promise I'll listen. You look at everything and think of it as pretty and happy. Sometimes you have to face the truth that not every situation can be changed for the better, kid."

Nick turned away from Ellis and closed his eyes. The hick bit his lip and thought about what Nick said. Sure, it was true he tried to make everything happy, but it was only for his own sake. Ellis didn't want to turn into a guy who always thought negative, if that was even possible. He was raised in a happy family and had a good life. Who wouldn't be happy with a life as perfect as his? Though, Ellis did know sometimes being constantly optimistic wasn't the best way to treat things.

"Ellis, honey, I can take over from here. Get some rest."

Rochelle took Ellis's spot and the hick crawled onto the floor. He hadn't realized how long he stayed up thinking about what Nick said. As soon as his head touched the floor, Ellis fell asleep.

_Ellis smiled and laughed at his best friend, Keith, who was sitting at the dinner table next to him. His mother was in the kitchen making dinner, his father reading the newspaper in the living room. Ellis loved Thanksgiving and knew his parents wouldn't mind Keith being there. He was practically family anyway._

_"Ellis, why didn't you save me?" _

_The hick's wide smile turned into a frown as Keith kept repeating his sentence._

_"Ellis, why didn't you save me?"_

_"Keith.. what do you mean?" _

_Keith's slammed his fist on the table and stood up over Ellis._

_"Dammit Ellis! Ya know what I mean. I needed you and you did nothing! What kinda frien' are ya?"_

_Ellis started to cry and he shook his head furiously. "Keith I-I-I'm sorry!" _

_As Ellis cried Keith kept asking the same question over and over._

_"Why Ellis, why didn't you save me?"_

"Ellis, sweetie, wake up!" Rochelle spoke softly.

The hick jerked up, his eyes wide open. "Keith I'm sorry!" He yelled.

"There's no Keith here. It's alright, just a nightmare is all."

Rochelle patted Ellis's shoulder until he calmed down. Nick peered at Ellis from the corner of his eye and frowned at him. The hick knew there was no pretending to be okay anymore, soon enough Nick would persuade him to come clean.

"Now, do you wanna talk about it?" Rochelle put her arm around Ellis.

"Keith was my best buddy. No. My brother." Ellis started. "He was who I told all my secrets to. The one I came to when someone made fun of me. We even opened our own auto shop and had our very own band. But I find em' in this motel, dead on the floor. I thought he was the strongest man alive. Guess I was wrong. What makes it worse is that I couldn't even save em'. I was too late."

"C'mon now, you can't save everyone." Coach said, patting Ellis on the back.

The hick weakly smiled back and crawled over to the other side of the room. "I just wan' be alone."

"Goodnight." Rochelle said, returning to her watch and everyone else going back to sleep.

Ellis didn't go to sleep for the rest of the night and remained curled up in a ball, away from everyone else. It felt like someone had just shot him in the chest and left him there to die. His stomach was twisted in a knot, the hick was constantly swallowing the lump in his throat and his whole body felt like crap.

Nick stood up to yawn and stretch, staring at Ellis the whole time. The con-man made his way over to Ellis and sat beside him.

"Wan' tell me all 'bout yer problem now?" Ellis asked, glaring at Nick.

"I was always a dick," Nick started. "even to my wife. Don't get me wrong I loved her more than anything. It's just my nature, how I was raised. My gambling problem didn't help either. Before the end-of-the-world my wife divorced me and took our daughter. Wasn't even aloud to visit her. Court orders said I wan't a fit parent and wouldn't ever be. But a few weeks later my daughter got severely sick, but I was in jail. So I did what anybody would do, I broke out of jail. Stole this suit, even. I swear to God if you tell anyone I'll shoot you. Anyway, I jumped on a boat that would take me to her, but it was far too late. Got lucky and found this evac spot in time."

Ellis's eyes widened. "And you ain't ever sad 'bout what happened?"

"Kid, we don't have time to be sad anymore. Let alone think about the past. Let's just say... I could think of you as my new family..." Nick half-smiled and Ellis punched the con-man playfully on the shoulder.

"You can be my big bro, Nicky. Always wanted one anyhow."

"Just keep this a secret and I won't strangle you at night."

Ellis smiled at Nick before standing up to wake the rest of the group.

"You guys ready to kick some more ass?" Ellis smiled widely at the other three.

"Ellis you're really starting to grow on me." Nick walked past Ellis, nudging him in the arm.

"Keep on doing what you're doing, it's working." Coach nodded his head, showing that he was proud of Ellis.

"As long as you're around I think just might make it."

Ellis followed the group, taking his place behind Rochelle as the survivors head outside. He felt exactly what Nick had spoken about. The hick knew that those other three people were his family and he'd protect them no matter what. Ellis bumped into Rochelle, and when he started to say sorry Ellis saw the whole group standing still.

'What's wrong?' Ellis wondered, but realized why they seemed so scared when he saw the infected that was running their way.

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**hope this chapter is as pleasant to read as it was to write! ;D**

**thanks to Imagine Dragons, The Script, One Republic and Pandora for getting me through this ^_^**

**review, tell me if it was good, bad or needs editing. constructive criticism is my thing**

**enjoy! :3**


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